Review by Mother of Twins for Sony Ericsson Quad Band W580i Walkman Pink (Unlocked)
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I bought this phone because it had Walkman FM radio, too. This phone is pretty (I got the PINK one), lightweight, has lots of whiz-bang menu selections, but doesn’t wow or impress me as much as the Samsung A737 or Samsung A747 models which I bought for my children. I listen to the radio a lot, more than MP3s and really thought this feature would be cool. If you like effects, it has 16 settings for flashing light patterns customized for every caller. It takes a day to find out how to set the patterns in all the menus….

The keypad is a bit on the small side, and feel like dry plastic. It’s OK for me because I have small hands, but I don’t think a man would enjoy using the small, non-descript keys. The letters on the keys are hard to see being so small. When I enter text, I still have to look–er, squint–at the keypad. I don’t pay for texting service, so it’s not a huge hassle, but if you text, I can’t imagine it would be much fun.

When I enter an phone number in the address book, it doesn’t put hyphens between the area code, prefix, and last four digits. That’s not fatal, but a pet peeve, and makes it difficult for me to figure out the numbers as they come up.

The M2 Memory Stick is not common, but Sony Ericsson uses it. They supply a 512MB one. Buying one with more memory will not be cheap. The access slot is on the top. It took me a while to figure out how to open the little, flat plastic door. Which side to open? It doesn’t have a flap, can’t open with a fingernail, so I use an unfolded paper clip or other similar-sized object to pry it open.

You need the wired earphones to have FM service. If you like radio, it’s just one more thing to carry around. The sound quality is EXCELLENT on this wire unit and the ear buds very comfy. It also works as “handsfree” phone device if you don’t want to do Bluetooth.

The display, although narrow, is bright and sharp. The sound is good, and it interfaces well with my Bluetooth earpiece and Palm device. The phone is very lightweight and slim. I dropped it a few times but the case didn’t scratch or crack. The pink IS pretty, and has little red “jewels” between the number keys (other color models have different color jewels). The speaker phone option works well and is clear to hear. The slider is a little unusual to work at first, but works very nicely. Sony Ericsson phone support is SUPER, too.

Review by Holly McNew for Sony Ericsson Quad Band W580i Walkman Pink (Unlocked)
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I have had my W580i for 2 years now! I got the red one when I was due for an upgrade for $50 (w/$50 rebate), so free works! Anyway, I am now due for another upgrade with AT&T and haven’t found anything I want to replace it with. I LOVE this phone! I didn’t want to buy an iPod, but wanted a phone with music. Not only does this phone play music, it also has an FM Radio that you can listen to with earplugs and even MobilTV if you subscribe to it. This phone also has a fitness feature that will count how many miles you have ran/walked and will save your results! Music is very clear and sharp. You can also download animated gifs to the phone.

The only downsides, which don’t matter for me since I don’t text or use my phone for internet, is that the phone is not 3G and the keys are not good for texting. There is no qwerty keyboard or touchscreen to text with. The phone also doesn’t offer GPS, which I don’t use either.

If you’re looking for a good music phone, but not looking for an advanced phone like the iPhone, then the W580i is perfect! Until Sony Ericsson comes out with another phone that is comparable to this one, I’m sticking with it until it dies… :0)